toys, books, games and iPad/iPhone apps tested and approved by a pediatric occupational therapist and all the children she works with!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

MAC&Toys Annual Holiday Toy Recommendations

Dear Parents

I hope that this finds you well and enjoying the beginnings of the holiday season. Since many people ask me what they should get their children for the holidays, I have put together a list of games, activities, books and iPad apps that might benefit your child. If you look closely, you will see that I have included what kind of occupational therapy goals will be met for each gift. I hope you find this helpful and please feel free to pass along to any of your friends, family and colleagues. If you don't find something on here, or have specific questions I might be able to answer, please don't hesitate contacting me.

While I have included links to amazon.com and other big box stores, I encourage us all to try and support your local toys stores and businesses this season. There are a lot of hidden treasures in these stores and I am sure that your business will mean the world to them. I have included a list of NYC and Brooklyn toy stores that I shop at who have always been friendly and helpful.

I hope that you all have a wonderful holiday season and that you have a very happy and healthy New Year.

Meghan

Meghan’s Annual Holiday Toy Recommendations

Games

Spot It/Spot It JuniorThis is a great
fast-paced game that works on matching, visual perceptual skills, motor
planning and modulation/regulation. The point of the game is simple: find the one matching object on each of the cards. Sounds simple,
but I find myself stumped every time I play! Once children get the
hang of it, they can be completely independent which helps facilitate
language and improved social skills.

KerfuffleWhile I
haven’t played this game, I've heard great things about it. It's great for
school age children and ideal for family play. And is described as a game of dice where
players roll dice and draw cards to see what their moves are to be.
It includes 25 blue dice, 25 green dice, 25 red dice, 25 white dice, 1
large die, 60 draw cards and a game grid. The first player to play all of
his or her dice is the winner!

TenziThis is a great game for school age children that works on visual motor/perceptual
skills, grasp skills, hand strength, following directions, etc. It's a simple
game but very fun. Each player gets 10 dice and has to keep rolling
until they get all the same number.

Sneaky SquirrelI love when I find a game that’s really great for toddlers/preschoolers. My daughter picked this out the other day. She loves it and my husband and I enjoy playing it with her. It's a cute game that works on
color matching, following multi-step directions and grasp strength. It includes a cute set of Sneaky Squirrel grabbers that are used to pick
up the acorns which work on grasp strength. It's a fun family game that I
think even your older children will enjoy playing with the younger ones.

Wok N RollThis is one of my all-time favorite games that is fun for all ages. It can be easily
modified to use with preschoolers but can be made challenging enough for
the older ones. It works on matching, eye-hand coordination, grasping
skills and much more.

Tumbling MonkeysThis is a version of Kerplunk, but you have to get the monkeys out of the tree
instead of the marbles. It can be modified for children of
varying ages, but is best for older preschoolers to young school age
children. It can be made more challenging by having the children try
and get the least number of monkeys. It's great for fine motor skills,
including grasping and also works on motor planning, problem solving and
visual motor and visual perceptual skills.

PerfectionThis
is another one of my all-time favorite games and a total classic. It works on
eye-hand coordination and matching and visual perceptual skills. I like to
hide the shapes in putty and make the children find them to work on
increasing grasp strength at the same time.

Hed BandzHedbanz
is not only fun, but very educational. It's a great game to work on social
skill development and improving speech and language skills. Children
work in pairs or teams to answer questions/come up with clues in order
to figure out what is on the headband. It's great for working on problem
solving, speech and language development and a bunch of other things.

Shopping ListThis is a great game for children between the ages of 3 to 7. It encourages
expressive vocabulary, memory, matching skills and visual scanning
skills. Children go "shopping" for what is on their shopping list. The
person to fill their cart with the items on their list first is the
winner.

ZingoYou
will find this game in every speech therapist’s office. Children never
get bored with this matching game. I recently discovered Travel Zingo
which is great for the younger kids because you can modify the size of
the board. It works on matching skills, eye-hand coordination, visual
motor and visual perceptual skills. Also great for working on speech
and language development by identifying pictures.

HapeThis
company makes a ton of fantastic wooden games that I love to use in
therapy. I love that they don’t have a ton of bells and whistles, but
are clever and different and the kids love them. Below are a couple of
my favorites but take a look at their website and see all the great
games they have.

PallinaA version of Kerplunk or Tumblin’ Monkeys which is great for developing eye-hand
coordination, improving grasping skills, motor planning and sequencing
skills. Play it with friends and you can work on important social
skills such as turn taking, winning/losing and how to help friends. It's great for preschoolers and young school age children but would also
keep the attention of older kids as well.

Stormy SeasA fun
game of balance. Children must get all the cargo on the ship without
letting them fall off which is great for problem solving, eye-hand coordination
and visual motor skills. It can work on modulation and regulation by
helping a child slow down before making decisions and is a great
game to play in teams to encourage children to make decisions together
in coming up with a game plan.

Toys

Read and Build LegoThis is one of my new favorite Lego products. I have always felt that
there weren't enough for the little ones and it was like they read my
mind! Duplo has created a series of books and you have to create an
animal on each page. Great for sequencing, following directions and
increasing grasp strength and improving in-hand manipulation skills. I
have actually done this in groups of two to encourage team-work, taking
turns and social skill development.

B. Toys Bristle Block SpinaroosWe
all remember bristle blocks from growing up, right? This company is my
new favorite. Their toys are very well made and claim to be
environmentally friendly. These manipulative toys would be perfect for
your toddlers but I have a feeling your older kids will spend hours working on them as well. Spinaroos are great for improving bilateral
coordination.

Balancing BlocksI
picked these blocks up before the hurricane last month and both my 2 ½
year old daughter and my husband played with them for hours and hours. They are made by a Brooklyn-based company (woot woot) and I am all about
supporting local businesses these days. I love blocks and manipulative
toys because they work on motor planning, eye-hand coordination,
bilateral coordination, play skills, creative play and many other
things. Since these come in different colors and sizes, you can also use
them to teach children colors and concepts, such as big and little. These blocks are so well made that you will be able to keep them forever!

B. Toys Symphony in BIf
you have a music-loving toddler, I highly recommend this toy. My
daughter received it for her 2nd birthday and while it was a little
challenging and required help from me or my husband, she loved it from
the very beginning. There are a bunch of musical instruments that you
need to fit into the correct spot so you can work on matching and shape
recognition. The songs are fun, and because you can control the volume
and speed, it can be great to help calm a child down if they are hyper
and need to regulate themselves.

B. Toys Pop ArtyI
have included this toy on my last for the last couple of years. B. Toys creates the coolest toys and the bright colors and shapes are
really motivating for the kids. This toy in particular is good for school age children as the
pieces are small and could be tough to put together independently. You
can use these beads for working on increasing grasp and hand strength,
improving in-hand manipulation skills, eye-hand coordination,
sequencing, motor planning and visual motor/perceptual skills.

Fisher Price Peppa the Pig HouseMy
2 ½ year old daughter was given this toy and she loves it (as do I). This little doll house has a bunch of furniture that has two sides (for
example, the bed has two sides: one where the bed is made, the other
it is not). It's great for fine motor skill development, improving
imaginative play and developing social skill development. Not to mention for
speech and language development for toddlers and preschoolers!

Ned’s HeadThis is a great game for school age kids. It works on tactile exploration, matching,
etc. Kids use their hands to find hidden objects in Ned’s heads.

Kid O Magnatab Letter and Number BoardsI love
these boards and think they are great way to work on handwriting (both
letters and numbers) in a fun way for the kids. I am a big fan of
multi-sensory ways to learn how to write and this is a great one. The
magnet stylus helps encourage proper grasping on writing instruments and
all the boards have arrows that show the proper way to write the
letters.

Memory Match 16I love this wooden matching game that comes with eight different boards for you to
choose from with varying levels of difficulty. As a mom who loves games
that don’t take up much space or have a lot of parts, I love that this
matching game doesn't have a million cards to get lost. It works on
matching, memory, visual motor and visual perceptual skills and is great for
working on social skill development.

Skip Hop Alphabet Zoo Match & Play Puzzle and ABC House BlocksI must admit, this is a bit of a selfish entry although I do stand by
this toy 100%! It has nothing to do with the cute little model in the
picture. Skip Hop, a NYC-based company, has come out with a series of
wooden toys that are a lot of fun. They are simple and keep my daughter engaged
forever.

Legos and Legos FriendsYou
can never go wrong with the Lego products. They are timeless and will be in
your child’s toy collection forever to be kept for future
generations! They are great for working on improving motor planning,
organizational skills, sequencing and executive functioning skills. Also great for working on improving grasp strength and in-hand
manipulation skills, eye-hand coordination, visual motor and visual
perceptual skills. Now that they have introduced a girl's line, there
are even more options for boys and girls!

Lego GamesOver
the last few years, Lego has come up with a series of strategy and
board games. They have been a huge hit with my older kids, kindergarten
and up, and will work on all the same things that regular Legos do. Apart from what I listed above, Legos can
address language and friendship skills as well. My favorites:
Wild Wool, Ninjago and Pirate Plank.Arts and Crafts

Orb Factory Mosaic ToysThese
mosaics have been on my list for the last several years. They are motivating to all kids and the final product is awesome. It works on
fine motor skill development, especially grasping and improving finger
strength. Additionally, these toys work on eye-hand coordination, matching skills, visual motor
and visual perceptual skills. Each year they come up with more and
more activities, and there are varying levels, so you can get these
for your preschooler or school age child.

Loop De Loop Friendship Bracelet MakerI'm not
sure if you have all noticed how popular friendship bracelets have
become but I see them on all my children at work these days. For some
of our children with fine motor and motor planning difficulties, this
activity can be very frustrating and prevent them from trying. The good news is this
little machine helps create the perfect friendship bracelet and once
children get the hang of it, they can be independent. It still requires a
child to organize and plan out the project, but will work on improving
in-hand manipulation skills, bilateral coordination, improving eye-hand coordination and visual motor and visual perceptual
skills. If they try and do it too quickly, children will not be able to
make the bracelet, so it will also work on improving modulation and
decreasing impulsive behaviors.

Crazy Crayons Eco StarsI love
these crayons not only because they are environmentally friendly, but
because they are great for encouraging a proper grasp on a writing
instrument. The bright colors and fun shape get almost all my kids to
color and have fun doing it!

Write Me A Story-EebooI am always looking for fun ways to motivate my kids to write in general, but with my older kids, to write stories. I love this series of books
because they give you a bunch of stickers to choose from (ranging from
3-7 stickers), put them in order and then challenge you to write a story
using the stickers. This is great for school age children who struggle with
coming up with ideas and the sequencing of stories. Stickers are fun
and I love that each story, even if using the same stickers, will always
be different.

Cootie CatchersI
love this project for so many reasons. I can remember doing these with
my girlfriends a million years ago and love that they have come back in
full force. As an occupational therapist, I love all the skills that
making these can work on: handwriting, folding, increasing grasp
strength and in-hand manipulation skills...I could go on and on. My
speech therapy friends would love the language it could stimulate and
the friendship skills it could encourage. Here are two different options: one is more geared towards girls, but the other has good ones
for boys as well.

Taro’s Origami StudioThis
place is an awesome origami studio that has recently been featured in the New York Times. Origami can be really challenging, but I took a
client here for her birthday who really struggles with these kinds of
activities. The staff was amazing and her private lesson couldn't have
been more motivating and encouraging for her. She left with her
“Yellow Origami” belt and a tremendous amount of pride. This place is
definitely worth making the trip to Brooklyn! Origami is great for
so many things: eye-hand coordination, sequencing, motor planning,
grasp and finger strengthening, improving in-hand manipulation skills
and many others. When a child completes a complicated origami pattern,
the sense of pride they feel is priceless.

Imagine That Coloring BookThis is a great
coloring book that will inspire your child to color, draw and use their
imagination. It's a big hit with my older preschoolers and young school age
children. You can use this with the star crayons for a perfect combo! It works on
improving imagination skills, fine motor skills, grasping skills,
eye-hand coordination and visual motor and visual perceptual skills. The pictures are motivating enough that you can really stimulate language
development as well. The author, Lazoo, has a series of drawing and
coloring books that I also highly recommend: Squiggles, Holes,
Incredible Stickers. All can be found on their website under Books.

Don’t Let the Pigeon Finish this Activity BookI am a huge Mo Willems fan and when I saw this book, I flipped out! It offers a ton of different activities that will keep your
preschooler and/or school age child entertained for hours. It helps develop creative
writing and imagination skills, language development and can even be
done in multiples to work on social skill development and encouraging
teamwork. It will also work on eye-hand coordination, handwriting, visual
motor and visual perceptual skills.

The Button FactoryI thought this activity was going to be really hard for my kids, but they
loved it. It's a great and quick activity for school age children. The very cool looking fabric buttons take minutes to make. If a child has
difficulty with cutting, they may require some assistance. But it's great for
working on sequencing and motor planning, executive functioning and
eye-hand coordination. Also works on cutting skills and increasing
grasp strength and in-hand manipulation skills.

AppsWhile
there is still a lot of conflict on using technology in therapy, I have
become a huge supporter. I don’t use it all the time and often
will use it as a reward for some of my children. There are thousands of
apps out there that can actually really help your child. In addition,
the iPad/iPhone apps really do encourage a child to work on important
skills such as finger isolation, grasping, visual motor and visual
perceptual skills, following multi-step directions...the list goes on
and on. If used properly, technology can truly help your child’s skills
and confidence. Tally TotsThis
is a great app for your little ones who are working on learning their
letters. Super motivating and little games that go along with each
numberAlpha TotsSame as above but works on learning the letters of the alphabet. This game keeps the attention of the little ones forever!Bubble GuppiesThis
is a great game for preschool age children. It works on matching,
sequencing, following multi-step directions and I find that the familiar
characters from the show are really motivating.AgnitusCute
game for preschoolers/early learners that works on matching, following
multi-step directions, sequencing, etc.. Cute little characters and fun
games that will keep your toddler engaged for a long time!Don’t Let the Pigeon Run this AppFor
any of you who are familiar with the author Mo Willems, you will love
this application. This can be good for toddlers up to 2nd/3rd grade.
You get to be the author of your very own Don’t Let This Pigeon book.
There is a cute mini lesson that teaches you step by step how to draw
the pigeon character found in all the books. Worth every penny it
costs!DexteriaThis
is more appropriate for school age children. Created by an
occupational therapist, this app works on improving fine motor skills
such as grasping skills, handwriting and in-hand manipulation skills.
Cute mini games that will keep the attention of your child while
working on important skills at the same time.LetterschoolMy
absolute favorite handwriting app out there. Works on upper and lower
case letters and numbers. Offers 3 different settings, including
Handwriting Without Tears. This game is motivating enough that it keeps
ALL my kids interested and excited with handwriting. There are three
different ways to learn each letter which I have found to be very
helpful for learning the letters/numbers.

Clay JamA new app I just discovered. Definitely more suited for the school age
children. A really fun and simple (and totally addictive) game. I
would use this to work on finger isolation, problem solving, following
multi-step directions and visual motor and visual perceptual skills. Albert HDA cute series of mini games that works on a variety of things. Great for
school age games. Works on a ton of skills, including, but not limited
to motor planning, visual motor and visual perceptual skills, eye-hand
coordination, following multi-step directions, modulation/regulation,
etc...Fruit NinjaI
usually use this game with my school age children as a fun way to work
on visual motor and visual perceptual skills, finger isolation,
modulation/regulation and a bunch of other things. In addition, it’s a
game that many children their same age peers play so it helps in
building confidence.Cut the RopeAnother great game for school age children to work on visual motor/perceptual skills, motor planning and sequencing.Bejeweled BlitzAnother great game for school age children to work on visual motor/perceptual skills, motor planning and sequencing.

Below are speech therapy specific applications suggested by my speech therapy friends:The Monster at the End of this AppSpeech with Milo- Great for sequencing and articulationThe Juno CompanyZanny-Born to RunBugs and ButtonsAn educational game for preschoolers that works on sorting, connecting the dots and color recognition My Play HomeLocal Toy Stores to SupportThis
year, more than others, I am reminded how important it is to support
our local small businesses. Although I mostly include links for Amazon or other
big box stores, I always recommend shopping at your local toy store to keep our communities fun and unique.

I've listed a handful of toy stores below. And since I live in Brooklyn, you'll see a majority of these are based in my own backyard. However, if you have additional local stores that supply these toys that are so helpful to our children, feel free to email me. I'm always looking for stores to support and recommend.

Union Square(ish)Kidding Around *multiple locations in New York City and New Jersey

I know this is a long list. But I hope that, more than anything, you've gotten guidance on fun and important toys to make this holiday season easier for you to navigate. It can be an overwhelming time for all of us, but this should get you well on your way to selecting toys which are fun and play an integral part in your child's development.

I'm just a click away. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

About Me

I am a mom to the amazing 5 1/2 year old Quinn Eloise and wife to the most supportive Rob Reinhardt. I have been a pediatric occupational therapist in New York City since 2001. I have spent the last 13 years as a pediatric occupational therapist in New York City and have loved every second. I have worked with some of the coolest kids in this city and each of them has taught me something valuable and have helped me become the therapist I am today. I spent over 10 years working at the SAGE Center and am now at Heads Up Thearpy. In addition to my private work, I am proud to be a founding member of The Meeting House, a recreational after school program for children with social special needs and now run The Meeting House Juniors program. I love my job and helping these awesome children become as successful as they can be and help them become more confident in their skills.